In the Indische Buurt neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost, the local council is already making preparations for the New Year’s celebrations in November.
The reason for these thorough preparations is the experience in previous years of young people vandalising tram stops, throwing stones and setting off fireworks at the police. In several instances, passers-by have also been attacked.
Aiming to make it difficult for ‘disaffected youths’ to cause chaos
The district leader, Emre Ünver, has asked Mayor Femke Halsema to once again designate the district as a high-risk area. This will allow the police to carry out preventive body searches. On New Year’s Eve, several roads will be blocked off with concrete blocks to prevent scooters, fat bikes and motorbikes from easily using the side streets. Additional lighting and CCTV cameras will be installed to make it easier to identify troublemakers.
In addition, checks will be carried out on basement storage rooms and loose items will be removed from the streets to prevent them from being used as projectiles. Shops are urged not to sell petrol, white spirit or other flammable liquids during this period.
The most noticeable measure for ordinary residents relates to Christmas trees. Whilst the municipality in the rest of Amsterdam collects Christmas trees before New Year’s Eve, residents near the vulnerable areas must keep their trees indoors until after New Year’s Eve. Collection points will not be set up in these areas until 2027. The aim is to prevent dry Christmas trees from being left in piles, ready for arsonists.
The measures are based on several years’ experience in the area. The local authority describes the preparations as an attempt to make it as difficult as possible for ‘disaffected young people’ to cause chaos.
